Dictionary: DREIN – DRIB'BLING

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DREIN, v. [or n. See DRAIN.]

DRENCH, n.

A draught; a swill; also, a portion of medicine to purge a beast, particularly a horse. Hence, a violent dose of physic to be forced down the throat.

DRENCH, v.t. [Sax. drencean, to drench, to soak, to inebriate, and drencan, to drink, to give drink; drenc, drench, and drink; D. drenken; G. tränken, to water, to soak; Sw. dränckia, to plunge, to soak; Scot. drouk; W. troci. Drench, drink, drown, and probably drag, are from the same root. See Drink and Drag.]

  1. To wet thoroughly; to soak; to fill or cover with water or other liquid; as, garments drenched in rain or in the sea; the flood has drenched the earth; swords drenched in blood.
  2. To saturate with drink. – Shak.
  3. To purge violently. – Mortimer.

DRENCH'ED, pp.

Soaked; thoroughly wet; purged with a dose.

DRENCH'ER, n.

One who wets or steeps; one who gives a drench to a beast.

DRENCH'ING, ppr.

Wetting thoroughly; soaking; purging.

DRENT, pp.

Drenched. [Not in use.] – Spenser.

DRESS, n.

  1. That which is used as the covering or ornament of the body; clothes; garments; habit; as, the dress of a lady is modest and becoming; a gaudy dress is evidence of a false taste.
  2. A suit of clothes; as, the lady has purchased an elegant dress.
  3. Splendid clothes; habit of ceremony; as, a full dress.
  4. Skill in adjusting dress, or the practice of wearing elegant clothing; as, men of dress. – Pope.

DRESS, v.t.

  1. To arrange in a line; as, look to the right and dress.
  2. To pay particular regard to dress or raiment. – Bramston.

DRESS, v.t. [pret and pp. dressed or drest. Fr. dresser, to make straight, to set up, to erect; Arm. dreçza, dreçzein; It. rizzare, to erect, to make straight; dirizzare, to direct, to address; Sp. enderezar, Port. endereçar, to direct; Norm. adrescer, to redress. The primary sense is, to make straight, to strain or stretch to straightness. The It. rizzare is supposed to be formed from ritto, straight, upright, L. erectus, rectus, from erigo, rego.]

  1. To make straight or a straight line; to adjust to a right line. We have the primary sense in the military phrase, dress your ranks. Hence the sense, to put in order.
  2. To adjust; to put in good order; as, to dress the beds of a garden. Sometimes to till or cultivate. – Gen. ii. Deut. xxviii.
  3. To put in good order, as a wounded limb; to cleanse a wound, and to apply medicaments. The surgeon dresses the limb or the wound.
  4. To prepare, in a general sense; to put in the condition desired; to make suitable or fit; as, to dress meat; to dress leather or cloth; to dress a lamp: but we, in the latter case, generally use trim. To dress hemp or flax, is to break and clean it.
  5. To curry, rub and comb; as, to dress a horse: or to break or tame and prepare for service, as used by Dryden; but this is unusual.
  6. To put the body in order, or in a suitable condition; to put on clothes; as, he dressed himself for breakfast.
  7. To put on rich garments; to adorn; to deck; to embellish; as, the lady dressed herself for a ball. To dress up, is to clothe pompously or elegantly; as, to dress up with tinsel. The sense of dress depends on its application. To dress the body, to dress meat, and to dress leather, are very different senses, but all uniting in the sense of preparing or fitting for use.

DRESS'ED, pp.

Adjusted; made straight; put in order; prepared; trimmed; tilled; clothed; adorned; attired.

DRESS'ER, n.

  1. One who dresses; one who is employed in putting on clothes and adorning another; one who is employed in preparing, trimming or adjusting any thing.
  2. [Fr. dressoir.] A side-board; a table or bench on which meat and other things are dressed or prepared for use.

DRESS'ING, n.

  1. Raiment; attire. – B. Jonson.
  2. That which is used as an application to a wound or sore.
  3. That which is used in preparing land for a crop; manure spread over land. When it remains on the surface, it is called a top-dressing.
  4. In popular language, correction; a flogging, or beating.

DRESS'ING, ppr.

Adjusting to a line; putting in order; preparing; clothing; embellishing; cultivating.

DRESS'ING-ROOM, n.

An apartment appropriated for dressing the person.

DRESS'MAK-ER, n.

A maker of gowns, or similar garments; a mantuamaker.

DRESS'Y, a.

Showy in dress; wearing rich or showy dresses.

DREST, pp. [of Dress.]

DREUL, v.i. [Qu. drivel, or Ar. رَالَ raula, to slaver.]

To emit saliva; to suffer saliva to issue and flow down from the mouth.

DRIB, n.

A drop. [Not used.] – Swift.

DRIB, v.t. [Qu. from dribble, but the word is not elegant, nor much used.]

To crop or cut off; to defalcate. – Dryden.

DRIB'BLE, v.i. [A diminutive from drip, and properly dripple.]

  1. To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves.
  2. To slaver as a child or an idiot.
  3. To fall weakly and slowly; as, the dribbling dart of love. – Shak.

DRIB'BLE, v.t.

To throw down in drops. – Swift.

DRIB'BLET, n. [W. rhib.]

A small piece or part; a small sum; odd money in a sum; as, the money was paid in dribblets.

DRIB'BLING, n.

A falling in drops.